He left friends camped Saturday afternoon at Finger Lake in the John Muir Wilderness of Inyo National Forest to summit nearby 13,855-foot Norman Clyde peak, a difficult climb in the rugged Palisades section of the Sierra that contains four of California’s highest peaks.

Climbers must scramble off trail over boulder fields, past glaciers and along a ridge with steep drops to reach the base of the steep mountain to begin the actual ascent.

When Dankworth failed to return by Sunday morning, his friends hiked out and called for help.